Nathan wakes up, he opens his eyes—realizing that he has been moved to a different place, he still remembers that the last time he was at the research laboratory. He sits up and realizes that this is a prison.
"Oh? You're awake, huh?"
The man's voice came from behind the iron bars outside, Nathan who was still dazed and looking around finally saw the man staring at him with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Yeah... Welcome to the prison, you little troublemaker. You should know why you're here, right?" the man said with a mocking smirk on his face.
Nathan narrowed his eyes, he clearly knew that he was imprisoned for stealing the body of the Guillotine Demon Knight earlier—but he just kept quiet and listened to the man's rant, while he couldn't do anything.
"You're aware you're suspended because of your actions in the research lab, right? Well... You'll only be detained for a week because you're a knight candidate in the Kaeis Kingdom military," the man said with a smug tone.
After listening to the man's long rant, Nathan finally stood up and approached him, the two of them only separated by the iron bars—he couldn't do anything because of the prisoner symbol on his hand that prevented him from using his skills or rebelling.
"You can't do anything, you little troublemaker... Enjoy your stay in pris-" as the man continued to rant, Nathan suddenly grabbed his collar, slamming him into the iron bars and making the man angry.
"Y-you! You're lucky you're a knight candidate and an Arcane Sorcerer! Just fucking wait!" the annoyed man couldn't do anything to Nathan, he left Nathan's iron bars and split at him.
Nathan just let out a slow sigh, but his bold action earlier still yielded results. He opened his palm and found a potion from the man's pocket—the potion was used to remove the prisoner symbol, and he could use his magic, he then drank the potion.
He could use his skills again, what he knew for sure was that the renaming last night had failed and it made him a bit frustrated. Nathan sat cross-legged, he then channeled his mana circulation again—he didn't intend to leave the prison because it would only make the situation worse.
His mana circulation was running smoothly, but he kept pushing to increase it—the pain continued to gnaw at his body as the mana circulated intensely.
----
On the other side, Sera, whose life was devoted to reading in the library, had already heard the news that Nathan was suspended and imprisoned temporarily. Sera sighed because Nathan's actions were stupid.
Today was the day for all personnel to train in the field, Sera then stood up from the bench and returned the book to the library. She also headed to the training field as the announcement was made, she felt that there was no one strong enough to defeat her except Nathan.
Upon arriving at the training field, many personnel had already gathered there—many were talking about Sera because she was actually popular but hard to approach. Sera just ignored it and waited for what would be announced next.
'Ring! Ring! Ring!'
The sound of the announcement tap rang out, in the middle of the field stood their training instructor as usual.
"Attention everyone! This time we'll have a sparring exercise as usual. However... You must form a party with a maximum of 4 people, no more!" the big-bodied instructor shouted loudly.
Everyone was initially confused, but when the team formation started, they quickly rushed to form their parties—the noise of joining and invitations filled the field. And no one dared to ask Sera to join because of her too cool demeanor.
Sera herself didn't need a party, but from a distance, she saw Fiola who hadn't been approached or invited by anyone—people were even avoiding her. Fiola herself couldn't do anything.
"Hey... Want to make a party with me?"
Fiola turned around, she saw Sera extending her hand. She, who had been avoided by everyone, didn't expect that Sera, one of the Arcane Sorcerers, would ask her to form a party together.
"I-is it okay?" Fiola said nervously.
"Of course... To be honest, I'm also having trouble finding party members," Sera said with a slight smile, she grasped Fiola's hand and chuckled softly.
Seeing that, Fiola also chuckled, she fixed her long silver hair and her face was now clearly visible. Sera was a bit surprised seeing Fiola's face, her eyes were blue with white star-shaped pupils with four points.
After that, a man approached them, the man with golden hair from yesterday. Fiola just stood there silently and hung her head—Sera saw clearly that the man's pupils and eyes were exactly like Fiola's, except his eyes were a shiny gold color.
"I told you, Fiola... You shouldn't be close to others like that," the man said with a softer tone than last night.
"S-sorry," Fiola replied, then the man just smiled and told Fiola to lift her head, and that made Fiola feel a bit relieved.
. . .
"O-oh! I-I haven't introduced my brother to you, t-this is my older brother, Michaelis Kailash," Fiola said to Sera after they had been silent for a moment, she quickly introduced the man as her older brother.
Seeing Fiola start to relax, Sera let out a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to introduce herself, Michael stopped her and began speaking.
"No need... I already know about you through my little sister, it's just a waste of time to introduce ourselves again," Michael said with a narrowed gaze, before finally deciding to join Sera's party, maybe because Fiola was in it.
'Ring! Ring! Ring!'
The party formation was complete, and everyone had found their respective parties, now Sera's party consisted of Fiola and Michael. The three of them looked at the instructor who seemed to be preparing the battle arena with his magic, while Sera felt something was missing without Nathan.
Instructor then handed out the brackets to all the parties, and Sera's party would be competing in the first round. Sera wasn't too concerned about it, as she was actually bored with weak battles, that's why she felt something was missing without Nathan.
----
Sera's party immediately prepared to compete against another group. The three of them entered the arena, as did the four members of the opposing party—except Sera and Michael weren't taking it seriously at all, while Fiola just stood there nervously.
"Alright! The inter party sparring match will start in a countdown!" the instructor used a skill that made his voice as loud as an announcement system and raised his hand.
'3...! 2...! 1...!'
The opposing team, already prepared, immediately attacked with their respective skills, and the skills they unleashed were all elemental—some shot out fireballs, water jets, and combined those forces with reinforced lightning.
Sera remained calm, while Michael closed his eyes. Fiola, seeing the two of them so calm, became even more nervous and cold sweat broke out as the attacks headed towards them.
Michael finally opened his eyes, he quickly used the skill [Aegis], creating a shield that immediately stopped the weak attacks from the opposing party.
Sera didn't stay idle either. She used the skill [Gravitalis], strengthening the gravitational field on the opposing team, making them easily stumble and fall to the ground, Sera's party won overwhelmingly and boringly.
The opponent party, unable to do anything, finally surrendered—making Sera's party instantly win the first round.
----
After tens of minutes passed, each match was successfully won by Sera's party. Michael could only sigh with boredom, while Fiola had been focusing on providing support skills to Sera and her brother.
"Yah... Your support skills really helped us, Fiola...it really did, thanks," Sera said while cheering Fiola up with a smile on her face.
"T-thanks," Fiola replied with a faint smile, she then tidied up her beautiful messy hair.
Michael just stood silently as Sera cheered Fiola up, but when he saw his little sister smile—he also cracked a faint smile with a slight sigh.
In the final match, Sera's party won all matches without a single loss. Since this was a competition, their party ranking would automatically affect their grades when they graduated from the military academy.
The three of them walked through the academy's corridors, and Fiola suddenly needed to go to the toilet for a moment, telling them to go ahead without her—Sera nodded and continued on, while Michael just stood still.
"Sera, there's something I want to talk to you about."
Michael said from behind, Sera turned around curiously, initially thinking Michael was going to say something trivial—but his expression seemed very serious, making Sera even more curious.
"So...what is it that you want to talk about?" Sera raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest, while Michael took a deep breath and finally spoke.
"But, you promise not to tell my sister, okay?" Michael said with determination.
Sera raised an eyebrow again with suspicion, but eventually she just sighed heavily and closed her eyes for a moment—before finally nodding, a sign that she promised to keep it a secret from Fiola, and then Michael began to speak.
"To be honest... Fiola and I... Are..."
. . .